PACCAR AUSTRALIA

PACCAR BLOG

BLENNERS TRANSPORT 200TH KENWORTH

North Queensland’s leading produce carrier has recently taken delivery of its 200th Kenworth. Australia’s premier heavy-duty truck supplier, Kenworth Trucks presented Blenners Transport with the keys to their 200th Australian designed and built Kenworth.

Managing Director of PACCAR Australia, Mike Dozier handed-over the K200’s keys to Blenners Transport’s Managing Director, Les Blennerhassett at a recent ceremony held at the Kenworth Bayswater plant in Melbourne.

Mr. Dozier congratulated Les Blennerhassett, saying that Blenners Transport’s 200th Kenworth was a major achievement and should be recognised as a proud milestone for the family-owned transport company.

“The production and delivery of Blenners Transport’s 200th Kenworth marks a tremendous milestone for the Blennerhassett family, the Blenners Transport organization, and for Kenworth,” said Mike Dozier. “It’s appropriate that Blenners’ 200th Kenworth is the flagship K200 cab-over, as it’s the preferred choice of truck for many Australian produce carriers.

Mr. Dozier said that Kenworth trucks had been with the Blennerhassett family from the beginning, and their 200th Kenworth is testament to the strength of Kenworth’s Australian engineered, designed and manufactured model range.

“That Kenworth trucks continue to be the mainstay at Blenners Transport, and have been for 27 years, is evidence of Kenworth’s strong engineering and high production values. As well, it’s also a tribute to the committed support of Kenworth’s nationwide sales and service network.

“Kenworth understands the daily demands Australian road transport must face,” Mr. Dozier explained. “Our trucks are designed to meet those unique challenges and Kenworth is dedicated to building trucks that offer Australian road transport class leading efficiency and productivity. We thank Blenners Transport, and the many transport operators like the Blennerhassett family, who have allowed Kenworth to support their businesses over many years.”

Les Blennerhassett’s journey started nearly 30 years ago on a North Queensland banana farm, when he and wife, Judy began trucking their own produce to market. From the beginning, Kenworth have been a vital part of the Blenners Transport operation.

“We got our first Kenworth – a T650 – back in 1988,” Les Blennerhassett recalled. “That was the start of our relationship with Kenworth and with Brown & Hurley.

“We now have a mix of Kenworth models; some K200s on B-Doubles, and T609s and T409s on linehaul and road train work.

“They’re a strong, proven truck,” Les said of his 27 years of operating Kenworths. “Our customers demand reliable, scheduled deliveries, which means we must operate the best possible equipment available… that’s Kenworth.

“The drivers love ‘em and Brown and Hurley are very professional people to deal with.”

Blenners specialise in the transport of fresh produce, bananas, mango’s and avocado’s from North Queensland to Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane with return loads to Brisbane and North Queensland.

Blenners Transport took delivery of its latest K200 at Kenworth’s Bayswater plant in Melbourne. Blenners Transport’s 200th Kenworth is also a limited-edition 50th Anniversary Brown and Hurley Kenworth – one of only 50 Kenworths that have been built to celebrate the dealership’s half century of Kenworth sales, support and service.

These individual Kenworths are exclusive to the Brown and Hurley Group’s network of dealerships and all have been sold.

“Ours is number 27,” Les said of the Brown and Hurley 50th Anniversary Kenworths. “Which is exactly the number of years we have been dealing with Kenworth and Brown and Hurley.”

Len Roberts, Dealer Principal at Brown and Hurley, Townsville can remember back to 1988 when he sold Les his first Kenworth.

“Tony (Tony Burton, KW Sales at Brown and Hurley, Townsville) and I sold Les his first truck, a Kenworth T650. He was a banana farmer and needed a truck to cart his bananas to market.

“I consider Brown and Hurley to be a positive partner with its customers and Les is a great example of that – he started as a customer and is now a good friend.

“His son, Roger completed his diesel mechanics’ apprenticeship with us, then managed Blenners’ maintenance department for 7 years and he now manages the company’s southern loading from their Brisbane depot.

Over the past 27 years, Blenners Transport has grown to become one of North Queensland’s most trusted names for refrigeration and produce transport. The company operates a national fleet of 80 line haul combinations, including singles, B-doubles and road trains.

The Blenners Transport head office is strategically located in Tully, the centre of North Queensland’s major produce growing region, and is complemented by depots in Brisbane, Mackay, Townsville, Innisfail, Cairns and Mareeba.

Kenworth trucks are designed and manufactured in Australia to meet the world’s toughest applications. Kenworth, a division of PACCAR Australia, is market leader in heavy duty trucks in Australia. Its trucks are also exported to New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. PACCAR Inc, a Six Sigma company, is a global technology leader in the design, manufacture and customer support of high-quality light, medium, and heavy-duty trucks under the Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF nameplates. PACCAR also designs and manufactures advanced diesel engines, provides financial services and information technology, and distributes truck parts related to its principal business.